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hi there!

Just before I was supposed to wash te curds, I accidentally left the stove on & it heated the curds to 50'C
What now? Did it kill the cultures? Can I continue with it? Any suggestions?

DON'T GIVE UP ON THE CHEESE. JUST DO WHAT THE PROCESS SAYS, AND LET IT AGE FOR AT LEAST 3 MONTHS.
TIME WILL GIVE YOU THE ANSWER FOR YOUR MISTAKES.

I hope so.

Gouda uses mesophilic bacteria that generally don't like temps over 104-105. So, yes, you probably killed most of the bacteria. If the pH didn't drop enough, then there is the risk that unwanted bacteria can take hold. At this point you have nothing to lose, so let it go 90 days and try it. It certainly won't be a Gouda, especially if you didn't wash the curds, but most accidents are still edible.

When this happened, you could have quickly removed 1/3 of the whey and then replaced it with cold wash water. That would have cooled things down and still "washed" the curds.

What culture did you use?
Dave in CT

I went to pick up the kids from school. When I left, the temp. was 30'C, that's why I turned on the heat( but forgot to turn it off before I left)
I left home at 12:30 & returned at 13:05. (The recipe said I had to remove the whey & wash curds at 12:45)

The temp was 50'C at 13:05, so I immediately removed the whey & filled it up with cold water until the temp was 32'C, & then I followed the rest of the recipe. It's pressing now.

Atached is the culture I used.

Unfortunatlly this is why you can never leave the kitchen when making cheese,espacially after renneting when things require more attention like stirring,washing and so on.